The power of symbols

roosman

Call me an eejit or whatever...but...does it ever strike anyone when they look at the Boards shooting logo, that it may be just a tad 'Emotive, unrepresentative, intimidating, scary etc etc" to anyone who is not of our mindset.... by that I mean the long-running distrust of hunters & gun owners in general, by a segment of the public & the authorities. My gut reaction is always, whoa !! a semi-auto pistol as the boards logo ! We know the number of pistols in the Republic is tiny, and secondly, thanks to Hollywood populist nonsense, many people will assume we secretly all want to own SA pistols and would only love a good shootout! I assume the vast majority on here are rifle & shotgun owners, maybe a symbol of a long-gun instead?? any opinions ? Please note I own 3 Remingtons and dearly love the sport.

Sparks

Sorry... what boards shooting logo are you talking about?

gunny123

I don't see any logo either............. you been at the sherry Roosman ?

Gravelly

There's a logo?

roosman

this one !

Vegeta

Must be the new site layout or mobile site.

Gravelly

roosman wrote: »

this one !

Would probably be difficult to fit an image of a long gun into that little circle. I'd imagine those who would take offence wouldn't know a semi auto pistol from a shotgun anyway, so it wouldn't make any difference.

Sparks

Hm. I didn't even know that was there. Wouldn't mind replacing it with a bullseye target though. Or maybe get our sponsored models to pose for another photo...

Vegeta

I like the idea of a bullseye target myself

roosman

now that is weird, every computer I use I can see the logo ! I thought I was loosin it or overdoing the sherry...Those models are superb sparks!

Sparks

Yeah, playmobil brought them out during the London Olympics and I had to buy several for junior. For, you know, testing. Just to be safe.

roosman

google makes everyone a graphic designer ! anyhoo, a few ideas !

tac foley

Sparks wrote: »

Hm. I didn't even know that was there. Wouldn't mind replacing it with a bullseye target though. Or maybe get our sponsored models to pose for another photo...:D

They look fearsome dangerous to me! What twisted and depraved mind would possibly conceive of Playmobil figures for shooting sports? [sarcasm off].

I wish I'd seen them when they were more readily available...

tac

Grizzly 45

roosman wrote: »

google makes everyone a graphic designer ! anyhoo, a few ideas !

The first looks like a road hazard warning sign.."Sniper at work?"

The middle logo is horribly sexist looking and looks like it objectifies women,[as those legs on it look like female legs ] who shoot into sex symbols,and no doubt will trigger[pardon the pun] "the wimmin" who have nothing better to do but find sexual assaults and objectification in every and anything.

TBH ,gun haters are gonna hate anyway,so it doesn't matter what we put up as a symbol.if you have an irrational fear of a lump of inanimate metal and plastic and are triggered by a symbol or picture.Well then is there ay hope of rational discussion with such a person in the first place??

If it aint broke ,don't fix it,and quit pandering to this PC bull sht that some snowflake somewhere ,some how will be "offended"or triggered or whatever. It's a symbol,nothing more or less,and its really high time we stop being apologists for being gun owners and shooters and actually come out of the closet for once.Everyone has the "right" to be "offended" these days..We should have ,and do have ,the right not to give a fiddley fk about your offended feelings.You dont like it?Move on.Dont buy the book,watch the programme,read the post whatever...

Cass

Never knew that logo existed.

Sparks

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

We should have ,and do have ,the right not to give a fiddley fk about your offended feelings.You dont like it?Move on.

D'ya know, I'm sure I've heard that before... where was it... oh yeah: us. Every time Finian McGrath opens his yap about how shooting's this horrible dangerous thing; every time Prime Time dusts off the hatchet and goes to film airsoft toys on capel street; every time a TD backbencher asks if it's wise to have licenced firearms because the Taliban just massacred a school in Pakistan; every time a Minister calls for something to be banned in order to take heat off him or herself over something real; every time someone makes a youtube comedy video in courtlough; basically, every time someone talks about us as if we weren't people. As if we were one bad hair day away from murdering all round us. As if we were all criminals by default who just hadn't been caught yet.

I dunno Grizzly. I don't think we're wrong for feeling that way. I think we're perfectly right to feel that way it's wrong that we get treated like that.

Only, maybe there are other people who feel that way about their stuff too. I don't mind making allowances for them if they do so for me; it's kindof what I think of as part of the whole basic package of a civilisation. (And it's kindof the first rule in here for a reason).

Besides, it's a pistol. Obviously we need to change it out for something better

Grizzly 45

Ahhh but Sparks you see..We are different!! We are the arch fiends,the worst things since all the baddies of the world rolled into one,the Anti christ..We are GUNOWNERS and HUNTERS!! The perfectly acceptable and attackable target of everyone..Because they know we wont and cant fight back... Imagine if some politico got up and referred to homosexuals as "******s and queers that are a danger to our children!" or travellers as theiving gypsy scummers who never wash." There would be rightously so utter outrage and said politican or media pundit would be out on their ear...

But somehow it is ok to paint hunters and gun owners in the media as some sort of buck toothed,sister humping,trailer trash,retarded idiot? It is alright to refer as David mellor ,the toe fetishist former MP as " Perverts&psychopaths" after Dunblane.And countless other thousands of examples of anti gun and anti hunters posting everything from death threats of hunters fammlies to as MKiss Laura Broxton of NARA claiming "we[hunters] are not fit to live in human society". Change hunters to,whatever oppressed group you fancy on say a Stormfront page and you would have shreiks of the lefties and liberals about "hate speech" until the house came down.

We cant even respond in kind as it will be thrown at us."See those gun nuts are unstable and shouldn't have any guns at all as they use violent langauge so it is proable they are planning a killing spree.!"

Even when we do get a "fair comment in the media"...Well lets not go there,you and I both know from personal experiance how "fair" that can be.

So sorry,but I personally dont feel like making any "allowances" for anyone anymore who somehow thinks because I own a gun or hunt that I am some kind of untermensch to their superior moral position and that somehow because they are offended by my views or lifestyle I owe them an apology.

Especially if they are espousing BS like diversity,tolerance and lfree speech for all[Terms&conditions apply.Only APPROVED lifestyles,opinions and groups need apply]

tac foley

We shooters are the MOST trusted, MOST closely inspected, MOST maligned, MOST misunderstood section of any population.

We shooters are the LEAST likely to cause offence, the LEAST likely to commit crime, and the LEAST likely to misuse the tools that we are entrusted to employ for our sport.

As in Ireland, here in UK we have to open our life's history to inspection, to ensure that we are compliant with all the above - even to the extent of giving tacit permission to looking into our medical records, something that here in UK, under other circumstances, requires a high-court judge's warrant.

Meanwhile, out in the world..............

tac

roosman

nicely said Tac... if your statements are not anecdotal and can actually be backed up by statistics (the offences & crimes bits etc), and now don't go rolling eyes on me ! but it would make a fantastic "Mission Statement" as they say in the corporate world.. call it what you like.... its just a thought about selling our particular "Brand" of lifestyle.. eg 'The Irish Shooting community- the most trusted, the most closely inspected, the least likely to commit crime, and the least likely to misuse the tools that we are entrusted with' 
i'll shut up now..

Grizzly 45

Would you like those statistics for Ireland or EU wide?:)
"Cos EU wide it is exactly the same for here.Liscensed gun owners are NOT the problem.
Hit the search button here on this froum.There is a thread "Gardai threaten to confiscate guns".It is about Nov/Dec2014 to about May 2015,and there you will find just about the most factual ,in depth study of the stats on gun crime and gun law in Ireland.At least the best that could be done with VERY dodgy and inaccurate Garda PULSE data.
In breif it broke down to this;
Accidental gun deaths are somthing like in the last 20 years 0.001%
Self harm with liscensed guns 0.01%
The most stolen gun here is likely to be an over under shotgun from a rural location.
The dreaded semi auto rifle and CF pistol rate a 0.00001% use in any crime and are the miniscule ownership of guns in Ireland.
In short,you can take it as a given that Tac's statement is 98% on the nail both here and EU wide.

tac foley

Sir, I've been in shooting sports since I fired my first shots at age five. That was sixty-six years ago.

I've had a UK FAC, with a single gap of four years, since 1967, and apart from Michael Ryan, Thomas Hamilton and that Bird fella, I can't think of many other LEGAL FAC holders in UK who have willfully committed crimes involving the use of legally-held firearms, although I'm sure that you can think of a few. An acquaintance of mine, who WAS an FAC-holder, beat his wife's lover half to death with a decorative lamp stand - in the same room as his gun cabinet was located. IMO, his restraint in not opening up the cabinet and blowing the almighty sh*te out of him should have been looked at in his favour. The judge, sadly, saw things somewhat differently, and he got five years for causing grievous bodily harm and wounding with intent. As a result of exercising his self-control he will never be allowed to own any kind of firearm again.

Sometimes life is just unfair in the extreme.

As for being well-behaved, please factor in that in UK, at least, you can lose your FAC for any criminal activity that brings you to court, and indeed anything that would give the police cause for concern over your actions whilst being intoxicated, DUI et al, or uttering threats against your spouse or others in your household. You can also lose your FAC upon declaring that you have any kind of drug dependency that is not related to your health, actually from health issues including one or other of the types of diabetes, narcolepsy, epilepsy, PTSD, or any other emotional or phsychologial problem such as clinical depression, threat to self-harm, or that might, in the view of the FAC issuing authority, a danger to other people whilst in charge of
a firearm.

The list is long, but I'm sure that you get my point.

tac

roosman

Points are well taken gentlemen. Sadly, my perception is the general public are unaware of these facts. I imagine if we were Americans, I truly believe this would become a bumper sticker on every car :)

Grizzly 45

We aren't the US and never will be unless some great cop on occurs and it becomes a constitutional right.However we are" Europeans" and there is a EU wide push by a group called Firearms United to at least harmonise the EU law to something liberal on line with the Czech Republic [The "Texas" of Europe].Which is strict enough,written,oral and safe handling tests,but once you have,you have it for life*[*85 years mostly] and can carry concealed and can purchase full auto as well.
I doubt it will happen overnight and in my lifetime,if at all that we would have tasty SMGs for sale in our gun shops and that we can pack pistols in Ireland..But I have been surprised by other impossible things happening in my life sofar.

tac foley

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

We aren't the US and never will be unless some great cop on occurs and it becomes a constitutional right.However we are" Europeans" and there is a EU wide push by a group called Firearms United to at least harmonise the EU law to something liberal on line with the Czech Republic [The "Texas" of Europe].Which is strict enough,written,oral and safe handling tests,but once you have,you have it for life*[*85 years mostly] and can carry concealed and can purchase full auto as well.
I doubt it will happen overnight and in my lifetime,if at all that we would have tasty SMGs for sale in our gun shops and that we can pack pistols in Ireland..But I have been surprised by other impossible things happening in my life sofar.

It's very interesting to note that the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary have all closed their borders to refugees, mostly, it must be said, of the moslem pursuasion.

All three countries appear to well on the way to rationalising their firearms laws in favour of nation-wide ownership.

Add to that that the incidence of moslem-inspired terrorist attacks just don't seem to happen there.

Is this a coincidence?

tac

gunny123

roosman wrote: »

nicely said Tac... if your statements are not anecdotal and can actually be backed up by statistics (the offences & crimes bits etc), and now don't go rolling eyes on me ! but it would make a fantastic "Mission Statement" as they say in the corporate world.. call it what you like.... its just a thought about selling our particular "Brand" of lifestyle.. eg 'The Irish Shooting community- the most trusted, the most closely inspected, the least likely to commit crime, and the least likely to misuse the tools that we are entrusted with' 
i'll shut up now..

"The Irish shooting community" ? Sadly as is usual with most things in Ireland, the community is at war with itself, as can be seen by the thread on night shooting.

useurowname

Agree the symbol is unrepresenative of broader shooting community. I know lots of shooters but not a single one with a pistol. Target or bullseye would be better , the one shown is actually the same/very similar symbol put up before movies on Sky to warn viewers there may be violent sequences involved.

tac foley

With great amount of irony, I must tell the assembled audience that the badge of our gun club depicts two crossed Colt Single Action Army revolvers.

And has done since 1928.

Being based on mainland UK, of course, means that it depicts handguns that we, here, are not allowed to own.

However, it causes little or no offence to anybody, just a degree of wistful nostalgia.

tac